When you look up into the skies during the serenity of the night, what do you see? Maybe your mind interprets infinite depth and distant stars. Maybe it ponders mystery and what’s beyond our sight. Maybe it’s simply pretty, awe-inspiring peacefulness. Well as far as we know, science has told us that you’re looking out at a universe that is made up of roughly a hundred billion galaxies, each of which are carrying an average of a hundred billion stars. Most of those galaxies have just as many planets as stars. Much of what you see isn’t even actually occurring at the moment that you’re experiencing it. It’s so far away that what you’re seeing in the night sky has happened in the past. According to Carl Sagan, from his book "Cosmos," “If we were randomly inserted into the Cosmos, the chance that we would find ourselves on or near a planet would be less than one in a billion trillion trillion (a one followed by 33 zeroes). In everyday life such odds are called compelling. Worlds are precious.”
Now unlike Mr. Sagan, I am no expert, nor do I claim to be. I’m just a fan with a figurative, pervasive slack jaw due to the awe that the universe inspires. Personally, while I am far from perfect, it keeps me grounded, gratuitous, and serves as a reminder of the miracle of our consciousness. It minimizes the traits of separation that we’ve created and magnifies the cosmic lottery that we all have won.
As of late, the mainstream media seems to be forwarding an idea of separation, like a vilification of the different. According to the media and the prominent figures that are covered, one should be fearful of all Muslims, illegal immigrants are nothing but bad news, all cops are trigger-happy, and everyone needs saving from the government. But the cosmos shows us how similar we are in the grand scheme of things.
To be fair, it’s human nature to see people and things and make an instant judgement. Our brain identifies patterns and assigns meanings to virtually everything we see, including other people. But it’s also within our human nature to not allow these naturally occurring processes to seep into our interactions with others in a way that creates unhealthy separation between ourselves and another. It only requires a little focus and practice before the elimination of that unhealthy separation becomes instinctive.
Yet, our differences are still worth noting. Our differences can inform, teach, inspire, encourage and improve our way of life. These differences come in different varieties and create limitless numbers of traits within people, yet, cosmically speaking, are only skin-deep and should be used constructively. They shouldn’t create distance, they should ignite wonder and curiosity.
We find ourselves in a sort of happy medium with our level of human knowledge and progression. We know a lot, but at the same time, we don’t know much. The universe is roughly 70 percent “dark energy,” of which Christopher De Pree, PhD, comments in "Idiot's Guide: The Cosmos," “There is no theory that comes close to describing what dark energy might be. This is a big one; surely a Nobel Prize awaits the young minds who figure this one out.”
There’s also things in our lives that cannot be concluded or figured out through scientific discovery or experimentation. To quote Alan Lightman from his book "The Accidental Universe," “We cannot clearly show why the ending of a particular novel haunts us… We cannot prove whether it is right or wrong to steal in order to feed our family, or even agree on a definition of ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’ For these questions, we can gather evidence and debate, but in the end we cannot arrive at any system of analysis akin to the way in which a physicist decides how many seconds it will take a one-foot-long pendulum to make a complete swing.” We know enough to determine that our consciousness’s existence is almost random, yet there’s so much to learn that we could never know it all. We have the tools of discovery at our disposal, with an infinite terrain of knowledge to explore. What a privilege.
If we can take what we know to appreciate the lottery of consciousness that we’ve all won, allow ourselves to realize our similarities, and eliminate the misguided space between us, we can take the level of humanity up a few notches and enjoy the ride a little bit more. We could all occupy the top tier of self-actualization on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Just let the stars be your inspiration. It’s what we need right now.
